The Latest in Web Development

While most people don’t realize it, homepages and landing pages are two distinct things. The former is the front door to your website, and is the primary entrance to all the content and goodies that are stored inside. It’s certainly an important page, as it acts much like the exterior of a house in terms of “curb appeal,” but isn’t always that effective in converting prospective customers into new clients. Why? It’s because the homepage typically provides an overview of your products, services, and/or general business model, and has links leading to multiple different areas. In other words, the homepage is the grand central station of most websites, which makes it easier for visitors to get lost, and leave before they find what they want, even if you have it.

If you haven’t made the switch yet, or at the very least, thought about it at this point, you are way behind the eight ball. What are we talking about? SSL, otherwise known as, secure sockets layer. Whether you realize it or not, if you’ve used the Internet for more than two seconds in your life, you’ve experienced SSL. See that lock symbol in the url bar of this page? That is SSL, and it means this page, similar to our entire website, is secure.

So why is SSL important? Well, the answer is actually quite simple. In the past, the conventional wisdom was that the only websites that needed to have SSL were the ones that accepted sensitive information from its visitors. As one might expect, generally speaking, this primarily applied to e-commerce websites, on which companies would allow customers to purchase items using credit cards. Without SSL, credit card information and other sensitive data, can easily be intercepted/stolen, which is obviously bad for both businesses and customers. When no credit card or other sensitive data is involved, the need for SSL decreases significantly, but it certainly doesn’t completely vanish.

At the beginning of the month, we touched upon one of the many different forms of online marketing strategies: local search engine optimization (aka “local SEO”). Local SEO, however, is only one form of online marketing, and while it has many benefits, it also has a few drawbacks. The primary drawback of local SEO is that it only targets people on a local level (hence the name “local” SEO). Although it is certainly effective for targeting potential clients in a business’ immediate geographic area, it doesn’t, by itself, do enough for companies that have a national or international target market.

One of the biggest black holes for any business, let alone a new one, is marketing – in other words, how to attract and keep customers. Why is marketing so tough? Well, unless your company is completely innovative, and is offering a product or service that no one has ever seen or tried before, odds are, you’re going to have competition. Therefore, marketing not only becomes a matter of making people aware of your product, but effectively convincing consumers why they should choose your product or service over your competitors.

Tired of the same old mobile web browser experience? Find it difficult to navigate the great world wide web on your smart phone or tablet? Hoping that someone will create an easy, fun, and innovative web browser that can turn your frown upside down?

Well, the Open Coast Web Browser from Opera may be the answer to your prayers. The Open Coast Web Browser takes an innovative approach to smart phone and tablet internet browsing that is definitely notable, and, in our eyes, is certainly worth giving a test run. Here is a quick overview of the browser’s features, along with comments about our experience using them.

According to the latest edition of the annual Internet Trends report published by Silicon Valley venture capitalists Mary Meeker and Liang Wu, there are now more than 2.4 billion people worldwide who use the Internet. As astonishing as that number is, however, it doesn’t even include the number of individuals now using smartphones, which also have Internet browsing capabilities – that number tops 5 billion worldwide! The crazy part is that both of the preceding numbers are growing rapidly.

e-commerce in the US is well on its way to reaching an estimated $370 billion by 2017

Given those astonishing numbers, it should come as no surprise that the consumer marketplace on the world wide web is growing just as quickly. According to Forrester, e-commerce in the US, which topped $231 billion in 2012, is well on its way to reaching an estimated $370 billion by 2017. Moreover, online sales, which already account for 8% of total retail sales, are not only expected to continue their blazing fast growth, but are also on pace to eclipse traditional brick-and-mortar shops.